


Midnight Monsters

by QueenOfTheQuill



Series: Your Candle in the Dark, Your Family and Your Spark [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Darcy has a Mom Voice and she's not afraid to use it, Fluff, Fluff fluff fluffity fluff, Found Family, Gen, avengers puppy pile, gotta love that PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 14:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13549044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfTheQuill/pseuds/QueenOfTheQuill
Summary: When the going gets tough, the tough get lasagna and cuddles at 4 in the morning.





	Midnight Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: Sorry to everyone following this who got like a bajillion updates, when I tried to upload this story, it kept looking like it failed because the page wouldn't load, so I just like... kept... posting it.

It was 4am and Darcy should have been asleep hours ago, but unfortunately, she had a Netflix account and a traumatic experience she was still getting over, so that didn’t happen. Sam was gone, in D.C. to visit his mother and some of his vet friends, so she was alone with her laptop and a whole season of  _ Criminal Minds _ to catch up on.

 

Darcy sighed as her laptop screen faded to black. She snapped the lid shut and looked down at her stomach as it let out a grumble. “Ugh,” she muttered, running a hand through her hair. “I  _ just  _ fed you like- ok, so it was eight hours ago, I see your point.” She heaved herself out of bed, wrapping herself in her favorite fleece blanket before trotting downstairs to the communal kitchen.

 

Half asleep, Darcy pulled some leftover lasagna out of the fridge and popped it in the microwave, digging a clean fork out of the dishwasher that no one had bothered to empty yet. She carried her prize into the communal living room, flopping onto the giant couch, which was really more like a huge bed with armrests and a back. Tony had had it custom made when the team moved in and it was one of Darcy’s favorite spots.

 

She’d only taken two bites when the air vent on the opposite wall popped out and Clint stuck his head into the room. “Do I smell lasagna?”

 

“Reheat your own, Hawkass. This is mine and you are perfectly capable of using a microwave, even if that is one of the  _ only _ things you can use.” Darcy positioned her fork protectively over her plate.

 

“Hey, I’ll have you know that my eggs Benedict are to die for,” Clint said, casually flipping out of the vent.

 

“Then you can make breakfast tomorrow.”

 

“Like hell!” Clint’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “Tomorrow’s Bruce’s turn and I’m not interfering with vegetable paratha!”

 

For a few minutes, the only sounds were the scrape of Darcy’s fork on her plate and the low hum of the microwave. Then Clint reappeared with a steaming plate.

 

“You know, someone’s going to have to take care of that dishwasher eventually,” Darcy said, patting the spot next to her. She knew Clint sometimes had issues being close to people without invitations; came from too many years of close quarters in the circus, he’d told her.

 

Clint vaulted over the back of the couch into the spot happily. “I think our ‘use the dishes in there until they’re all dirty, then fill it up again’ method is working just fine,” he said happily, taking a huge bite of pasta.

 

“Mama didn’t raise no slob, Clinton,” Darcy said, sticking her tongue out. “And for Thor’s sake, chew with your mouth closed.”

 

“Do I hear my name invoked?”

 

Darcy tipped her head backward to grin at Thor upside down. “Thor, my brother from another mother! We’re having late night lasagna, care to join?”

 

“Of course, little lightning sister. I was just returning from training and I could use some sustenance. I’ll return in a moment.” Thor disappeared into the kitchen and Darcy turned her attention back to Clint.

 

“And what has you up so late at night, Clint Barton?”

 

Clint stiffened. “Nothing.”

 

Darcy’s face softened. “Nightmares?” He looked away. “Loki again?”

 

“I don’t wanna talk about it Darcy.” His face was tense, though otherwise blank, but Darcy had spent months learning how to read these people.

 

“You don’t have to talk right now, but you do sometime, you know.”

 

Clint sighed. “I talk to Nat, sometimes, and to Bucky. He knows what it’s like to be taken out of himself and shoved back in different.”

 

“And don’t it keep me up at night, like the rest of you?”

 

Darcy turned her head to see Bucky, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “Evening, lady, gentleman, Barton,” he said, nodding to them and to Thor as he returned. “Is this the insomniacs club?”

 

Darcy’s lips quirked up and she held out her free arm. “Apparently so. Do I get to be president?”

 

Bucky took the invitation, climbing into the spot and slinging his arm around Darcy. Thor sat crosslegged in front of her, facing them as he demolished the food on his plate.

 

“Hungry, Bucky?” Darcy asked. At this rate, they were definitely going to run out of leftover lasagna.

 

“Nah, I’m fine, doll. Just… dreamed of the cold again.”

 

Darcy made a sympathetic noise in the back of her throat and threw half of her blanket over him. “Well, we’ll just have to fight it with über cuddles, then.”

 

Bucky grinned, settling a little deeper into the couch and into her side. “Thanks Darce.”

 

“Are you having a party in my house without inviting me?”

 

“It’s not  _ your _ house if you gave each of us a part of it,” Clint fired back as they all turned to see Tony, wiping grease and/or oil off his hands with a rag.

 

Darcy narrowed her eyes at him. “Have you eaten in the last ten hours?” she asked suspiciously.

 

“Now it depends on what you mean by ‘eaten-’”

 

Darcy rolled her eyes. “JARVIS?”   
  


“Sir has not had a substantial meal since breakfast, Miss Lewis.” She turned to glare at Tony.

 

“Kitchen. Lasagna. Now.”

 

“I’m fi-”

 

“Don’t make me count to three, Tony.”

 

“Lewis, seriously-”

 

“One.”

 

“I don’t need-”

 

“ _ Two. _ ”

 

“I’m going, I’m going!”

 

“And wash your hands!”

 

Tony threw said hands up in the air and disappeared into the kitchen. A few seconds later, she heard the fridge door open and close, the microwave start up, and the sound of running water. Satisfied, she turned back to her own plate and found the other three staring at her with amusement. “What?” she asked around a bite of pasta.

 

“Did you just ‘Mom Voice’ Tony Stark?” Clint asked, not even trying to hide his grin.

 

“Yeah, I could practically hear my ma scolding me for gettin’ in another tussle in an alleyway,” Bucky added. “All you needed was a ‘young man’ thrown in there somewhere.”

 

Thor gave her a soft smile. “You did sound quite motherly, Darcy. I heard my own mother adopt that tone many times when Loki and I were boys.”

 

Darcy rolled her eyes again. “I use that voice with all of you and it works, so I don’t care what you label it; if you hear it, you’d better damn well do what I’m telling you to.”

 

“Hey Darce, have you seen- oh, hey, there you are, Buck.” Steve had just arrived, dressed in nothing but the American flag boxers Darcy had gotten him for Christmas.

 

“God, Steve, don’t you have any common decency?”

 

“Yeah, put it away Rogers!”

 

“Ah, shove a sock in it, you two.” Steve glared playfully at Bucky and Clint, but it was ruined when Tony returned with the entire dish of lasagna and several extra forks, wolf whistling at Steve’s state of dress.

 

“I feel like I should be saying the Pledge of Allegiance right now. Is it unAmerican not to sing the national anthem when Steve enters the room?”

 

“Not usually, but I think we might make an exception when he’s dressed like that,” Darcy said, grinning. Steve groaned.

 

“Not you too? I thought you’d be on my side, Darce. You threw me to the wolves.”

 

“Honey, I’m  _ one _ of the wolves. Get your ass over here and have some ‘it’s way too late to be awake right now’ comfort food, you overdramatic lug.”

 

For a few minutes, they all lay on the couch without anyone else showing up. Then-

 

“Is this a private party, or can anyone join?”

 

“Nat, even if you didn’t have an automatic invitation, you’d probably just come in anyway, so get your booty over here before I drown in testosterone.”

 

Natasha’s grinning face appeared over the couch back as she hopped over it, wedging her way between Clint and Darcy. “Gimme,” she said, motioning to one of the clean forks and the dish of lasagna. For once, Tony passed them over without complaint.

 

“Well, since we’re all here anyway… J, is Bruce awake right now?”

 

“Dr. Banner is currently doing some calculations in his room. Would you like me to extend an invitation to him?”

 

“Please.”

 

A few minutes later, Bruce shuffled into the room, stopping short at the sight of everyone tangled on the couch.

 

“Doc B! Late night food party. You are a scientist and an Avenger, which means I get to boss you around on two fronts, so join us and have some lasagna.” Bruce simply shook his head and smiled, before joining Thor crosslegged farther down the couch and picking up a fork.

 

Time passed while they all chatted quietly, trading good natured barbs and happy stories from their pasts. The talk drifted away as each of them fell into a contemplative silence. Darcy could see eyelids drooping and heads nodding, then jerking back up. She hummed the opening to a lullaby she’d found on YouTube yesterday when she was supposed to be running data for Jane. Then she began singing.

 

_ Wandering child of the earth  _

_ Do you know just how much you're worth?  _

_ You have walked this path since your birth  _

_ You were destined for more... _

 

She kept singing as all their eyes turned to her, half open and sleepy. Thor and Bruce both lay down, one on either side of her feet.

 

Darcy kept singing.

 

_ There are those who'll tell you you're wrong  _

_ They will try to to silence your song  _

_ But right here is where you belong  _

_ So don't search anymore. _

 

Everyone’s heads hit the pillows (or each other), eyes closed.

 

_ You are the dawn of a new day that's waking- _

 

Her eyes landed on Thor and she leaned forward to gently brush his hair out of his face, tucking it behind his ear.

 

_ A masterpiece still in the making- _

 

She pulled Bruce’s glasses off his face, setting them on the couch back where no one would crush them.

 

_ The blue in an ocean of grey- _

 

Darcy grabbed another blanket from the back of the couch, tossing it over Steve and Bucky. They snuggled into the warmth of it, her, and each other.

 

_ You are right where you need to be- _

 

She moved Clint’s plate off his lap and used her legs to nudge Tony into a more comfortable position.

 

_ Poised to inspire and to succeed- _

 

Her fingers skimmed over Nat’s hair and the red-headed assassin tossed one arm over Darcy’s waist in her sleep. Darcy skipped to the end of the song, sliding down so she was laying on the cushions comfortably.

 

_ Soon, you’ll finally find your own way. _

 

~*~

 

Sam arrived home the next morning after an early flight, slipping into the elevator at 8 AM. “Welcome home, PFC Wilson.”

 

“Thanks J. Take me to the communal floor, please.”

 

“Certainly.” The elevator began to rise. “Sir, I would advise you to move quietly as you enter the common living room.”

 

Sam’s eyebrows drew together. “Why?”

 

“You’ll see sir,” JARVIS answered mysteriously. Sam shrugged. JARVIS would tell him if he or anyone else was in danger. When the doors slid open, Sam slipped silently across the floor and saw almost immediately why JARVIS wanted him to be quiet.

 

The entire team was sprawled across the couch, with Darcy right in the middle of the pile. Steve and Bucky were spooning under one blanket. Bucky’s legs tangled with one of Darcy’s. Darcy was on her back with Natasha’s head propped on her stomach. Nat’s legs were flung over Clint, who had fallen asleep sitting up. Tony was on his stomach with his head and arms on Darcy’s right leg. Bruce had his head pillowed on Tony’s back and Thor was sprawled out on the other side of Steve, one arm and one leg hanging off the edge of the couch. Dirty dishes were scattered everywhere.

 

“You got a picture of that, JARVIS?” Sam whispered, grinning.

 

“Yes sir.” JARVIS’s voice was equally quiet, and definitely fond.

 

Sam leaned down to press his lips gently into Darcy’s forehead. She smiled in her sleep and made a contented noise. As quietly as he could, Sam picked up the dishes and took them to the kitchen. For good measure, he emptied and re-loaded the dishwasher.

 

Darcy did enough; he could afford to lose a few minutes of sleep to do this one thing for her.

**Author's Note:**

> The song Darcy sings is Wanderer’s Lullaby by Adriana Figueroa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70VlAyEUXY


End file.
